Daniel and Kuʻulei Peterson

Ku‘ulei Peterson: Peterson Bros. Construction, Inc. is a licensed general contractor in the state of Hawaii specializing in civil site work. This includes demolition, excavation, grading, site utilities, concrete, asphalt paving and much more. We complete projects in the private, commercial, city and state sectors.

Daniel Peterson: The company was formed in 2013, and serves all major Hawaiian Islands. Before I started my own company, I worked for my brother doing this same type of business. My vision was a little different, so I decided to go out on my own, in my own direction.

2020 has been a tricky year for Peterson Bros. We’ve had to make changes to adapt with the changing times. We weren’t totally shut down, but some of our larger contracts got either cancelled or were postponed. We just have to keep on moving forward.

Ku‘ulei: Early in the year, even though we are considered essential workers and continued working, nobody knew how the pandemic was going to take its course. Contracts were postponed, and customer payments were delayed. So we were already looking ahead to apply for funds we could use if it ended up being worse than it was.

When we found out that COVID-19 was going to be a problem for us, I immediately contacted Kahea Williams at Bank of Hawaii to be sure that we were in a position to benefit from the SBA’s PPP loan. He let me know what paperwork the bank would be requesting, and when the application site would open. I was able to apply hours after the site opened up. With his help, it was an easy process for us. We deposited the funds into our payroll account, and used 100% to cover payroll costs.

The bank is now keeping up with us to make sure we have everything we need for the loan forgiveness portion.

Daniel: The PPP loan came at a good time, early on, because we didn’t know what to expect. To have that in our back pocket was very helpful.

Ku‘ulei: Kahea, who’s vice president of the West Oahu Market, and Virgie White, branch manager at the Kapolei Branch, are our main contacts. Kahea and Virgie are very accommodating, and they make sure that our business has everything that we need.

We go into the Kapolei Branch regularly to make our deposits, and they’ve made the branches much safer for us to conduct business. I appreciate being able to access the business line in the branch, because with social distancing the personal line can sometimes be out the door. Everybody at the branch is very friendly, always welcoming and helpful in getting our business done.

Daniel: A lot of business is built on relationships. It was a good thing that we had a good relationship with our bank at the time we started because they knew us and trusted us. When we needed our credit line, the bank was there for us. We were able to establish our business HawaiianMiles credit card with their help. We didn’t have a lot of cash when we started out, so the credit card was a big plus for our business. And we now have built our credit line bigger, which has helped us a lot. Working with a local bank, they understand how important their help is in keeping the doors open for smaller businesses.

When Kahea first moved to his position in West Oahu, he took the time to come to one of our monthly business meetings in Kapolei, to get a feel for who we are and what we’re about. It turns out that Ku‘ulei and Kahea both went to Kamehameha. Kahea then invited us to join Bank of Hawaii in a couple of fundraising events with the University of Hawai'i. Through those fundraisers he was able to introduce us to other people at the bank who could help us with personal loans, including our mortgage when we bought the farmhouse, and other business connections as well.

Ku‘ulei: Daniel was born and raised on the West side of Oahu, and 90% of our employees are from the West side. We feel a big responsibility to support this community.

Daniel: In the beginning of the year, we completed the filing for a nonprofit that we named after my late mom. It’s the Alma Jean Foundation. We had been coaching youth sports for a while, but we just started the foundation to mentor kids from the West side of Oahu, and fund scholarships for them, too.

Ku‘ulei: “ALMA” stands for Academics, Leadership, Mentorship, and Athletics. We recognize that the West side is constantly in need of support whether it’s for college education, traveling for team activities, or other support. So we want to help with fundraising for these types of activities, not only on the West side, but also possibly statewide.

Daniel: Bank of Hawaii is helping us with our vision for the future. They not only support the success of our business, but also our efforts to give back to the community through our foundation. Of course, when COVID hit we had to put some of our plans on the back seat for now, but we’re already planning for the near future when things get back to almost normal and we can get back to working with the kids in the schools again.